Library and Information Science Commons^™

The Los Seis De Boulder Sculpture Project: A Case Study Of Socially Engaged Archivist/Artist Collaboration At The University Of Colorado Boulder, Megan K. Friedel, Jasmine Baetz

Journal of Western Archives

As academic institutions and archivists around the nation grapple with the question of how to address existing monuments to racist histories at their institutions, how can archivists support the creation of new monuments on college and university campuses that reflect suppressed or oppressed histories of people of color? This case study explores the Los Seis de Boulder Sculpture Project, a socially engaged art project at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), in which archivists in the CU Boulder Libraries' Archives supported and collaborated with a student artist and community members to create a public monument commemorating the deaths of …

The Veins That Lighten Dearth: Documenting Hidden Collections In Rural California, Jillian M. Ewalt

Journal of Western Archives

This case study discusses an archival consulting project to document and preserve hidden collections in rural northern California. The paper provides an overview of the collecting institution (the Mother Lode Land Trust), the collections and their historical context, and the consulting process. The author highlights processing strategies to improve preservation and description while developing a post-custodial approach to managing collections in a rural, community-based archives setting.

Using Visual Resources To Teach Primary Source Literacy, Daniel Davis

Journal of Western Archives

Historic photographs provide an excellent teaching tool for promoting primary source literacy. People like to look at photographs, we all take them, and they illustrate the strengths and limitations of analyzing and interpreting primary sources. In 2019 I spent six months on sabbatical taking a “deep dive” into the new primary source literacy standards as well as the literature for teaching with primary sources. I then created a lesson plan, “Exploring the West in the Golden Age of Photography,” that focused on teaching primary source literacy through historic images. While this lesson plan was aimed at instructors teaching U.S. West …

How To Rate A Book: Goodreads, Taste, And Reading In The 21st Century, Dylan Burns

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

“What shall the individual who still desires to read attempt to read this late in history?” asks Harold Bloom. Writing at the end of the 20^th century, Bloom’s quote anticipates the information explosion that the age of the internet brought to the reader (even if his emphasis is on the unpopularity of reading rather than the explosion in options). Social media sites like Goodreads prove that reading is still popular, yet Bloom’s question of what does someone read is still salient. More than ever, reading is a social activity, to be shared, debated, and justified between millions of would …

Gathering Leadership Momentum Across Great Distances: Creating An Online Community Of Practice, Erin L. Davis, Danielle Theiss-White

Erin Davis

At the 2007 Mountain Plains Library Association Leadership (MPLA) Institute, held in New Mexico, USA, eight academic librarians formed an online multi-state, multigenerational community of practice. MPLA is a twelve-state library association within the United States. Using Google Groups™, the members formed an online environment called the MPLA Community of Practice for continuing development of the leadership skills presented at the Institute. These early-career librarians represent diverse educational backgrounds and work in libraries serving varied populations with differing disciplinary emphases.

The group meets monthly with each member preparing and facilitating online discussions, complete with personal assessments, topical readings, and questions. …

Gathering Leadership Momentum Across Great Distances: Creating An Online Community Of Practice, Erin Dini-Davis, Danielle Theiss-White

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

At the 2007 Mountain Plains Library Association Leadership (MPLA) Institute, held in New Mexico, USA, eight academic librarians formed an online multi-state, multigenerational community of practice. MPLA is a twelve-state library association within the United States. Using Google Groups™, the members formed an online environment called the MPLA Community of Practice for continuing development of the leadership skills presented at the Institute. These early-career librarians represent diverse educational backgrounds and work in libraries serving varied populations with differing disciplinary emphases. The group meets monthly with each member preparing and facilitating online discussions, complete with personal assessments, topical readings, and questions. …

Information Professional Or Caretaker Of "Old Stuff", Daniel Davis

Daniel Davis

Do archivists emphasize their role as technicians with specialized skills and knowledge or do they emphasize their role as sort of "semi-pro" historians? This debate has been around since the 1930s and is not likely to be decided any time soon. My argument is that young archivists cannot afford to take an either/or approach and must incorporate elements of both paths or risk obsolescence and/or continued low salaries.

Information Professional Or Caretaker Of "Old Stuff", Daniel Davis

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Do archivists emphasize their role as technicians with specialized skills and knowledge or do they emphasize their role as sort of "semi-pro" historians? This debate has been around since the 1930s and is not likely to be decided any time soon. My argument is that young archivists cannot afford to take an either/or approach and must incorporate elements of both paths or risk obsolescence and/or continued low salaries.

Appreciating A Pretty Shoulder: The Risquie Images Of Charles Ellis Johnson, Daniel Davis

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Housed in the collections of the Special Collections and Archives at Utah State University is an intriguing set of risqué photographs dating roughly from 1890 to 1910. Some of the images are stereo-views or cabinet card portraits of burlesque actresses either in tights or displaying bare necks, shoulders, and upper bosoms. Other photographs in the collection are even more suggestive with women undressing, lounging about with dresses that reveal their thighs, wearing body suits, and removing one-another’s clothing. By today’s standards they are more comical than pornographic. Considering the conventions of the time, however, especially in conservative, turn-ofthe-century Utah they …

"The Hardest Worked River In The World": The 1962 Bear River Project, Utah And Idaho, Robert Parson

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Arising on the north slope of the Uinta Mountains in northeastern Utah, Bear River travels five hundred miles through three states and ten counties in Utah,Wyoming, and Idaho.The river’s route traverses from mountain slopes, through several valleys, deep canyons and gorges before terminating at the Great Salt Lake, only ninety miles from where it begins.This unique geological and geographical mix, as well as interstate politics have complicated efforts to fully harness its waters.